TENTH WEEK OF THE SUMMER SHARE
While in Australia we are now into Autumn, the solstice is not for another few weeks. The sun is heading north and the nights have chilled, but the soil still holds the heat of the summer. The cold last week did slow the field tomatoes, beans and greens. The brassicas love the cold though and the array we have planted for the Autumn Share are growing well.

CRATES
Please remember to leave your crate out on Delivery Day or return them to the farm. Farm Pick Up people need to bring bags to transfer their vegetables into as the crates need to remain on the farm - Thank you!

NOTES ON STORING THE HARVEST
Please check out our Vegetable & Fruit page on the website to find tips on maximizing the life of your veggies. We envisage that many of the vegetables you are receiving this week will last for two weeks with careful attention to storing upon arrival. Although we do wash all the greens after harvest, we are washing to take the heat out of the plants and wash away some surface dirt, not to prepare them for consumption. We also spray a seaweed/herb brew about every ten days. While this will not harm you, it does have a taste. We do suggest washing your produce prior to eating.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX
The following are the items harvested this week. Items and quantities in your box may vary depending on your harvest day and the total harvest of each crop. The boxes are completely governed by what is ripe and ready for harvest and how much of it there is. We endeavor to divide the harvest fairly.
1/4 share: 5-7 items 1/2 share: 8-10 items Full Share: 10-12 items

Basil – Pesto bunches of Italian basil.
Capsicum – We are harvesting ‘Purple Beauty’, ‘Emerald Giant’, 'California Wonder', 'Golden Cal Wonder' and ‘Corno di Toro’. To identify what you receive, please go to our Capsicum and Chillies post. We harvest the capsicums "breaking"- with some colour but maybe not fully turned. If you leave these in your fruit bowl, they will turn fully red in a few days!
Chillies – To see the varieties we are growing and to identify what you receive, please go to our Capsicum and Chillies post.
Cucumbers – We are growing several varieties of cucumber - 'Marketmore', 'Straight Eight', 'Poinset' and pickling cucumber 'Boston Pickling'. Test your cucumber. If it is bitter, peel it, slice it and place it in a colander with salt for 20 minutes. Rinse and drain. Rinse and drain. Dress with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Garlic – This is biodynamically grown garlic. Sprayed with seaweed brews and biodynamic preparations. It is full of trace minerals, strong and sweet.
Melons – Harvesting green flesh 'Edens Gem' and 'Green Nutmeg' and orange flesh 'Carmes de Noir', 'French Chantenais', 'Hale's Best' and 'Hearts of Gold'.
Onions – Brown onions 'Cream gold'. These onions will store well and can be kept in a cupboard.
Potatoes – 'Sebago'. This potato is great for boiling, mash, roasting, baking, chips and mash.
Pumpkin – Chunks of just harvested 'Queensland Blue'.
Perpetual Gator Spinach – Large bunches for salads or cooked.
Sweet Corn – For the best flavour and tender kernels, eat it today!
Tomatoes –Field tomatoes slowed with the cool week last week. There was a good harvest of smaller 'Tommy Toe' which is a winner of the Diggers taste test.
Cherry Tomatoes– 'Sungold'

ExtrasEggplantPimiento de Padrons –Delightful "sometimes hot, sometimes not" chilies that are wonderful fried as a Tapas style entree. They have a lovey full flavour great for pizzas and stir-fries too. These are rotated through the boxes.
Watermelon – 'Sweet Baby'
Zucchini– Harvesting ‘Nero di Milano’, ‘Romanesco’, and a stuffing zucchini ‘GreyZiti’. Our second zucchini planting is being challenged by powdery mildew. This is greatly reducing the harvest.

FARM NEWS
The persistent cold snap over the past week slowed the tomatoes, zucchini, beans and successive plantings of "greens" that we sowed to fill in the lettuce gap we have from extreme heat. Always interesting the hand nature plays in the best laid plans on paper. The 'Perpetual Gator' silver beet is wonderful raw or cooked and can be a good salad green for the week.

There is sweet corn this week and again we think it is best the day it is picked! There are still three more plantings of sweet corn.

We were starting to wonder if we were moving into that in-between season time when summer things finish up and Autumn things are not quite ready. While the nights are cooling down, the forecast is for heat this week. The many green tomatoes should ripen, the greens will grow and the beans should be ready for harvest next week.

The first Autumn broccoli planting is looking great too and we recon we could be harvesting it in the next fortnight. The snow peas have germinated as have the turnips. We should begin harvesting leeks and parsnips in the next fortnight.

FARM PICK UP SCHEDULE
To accommodate those picking up their Mountain View Farm organic milk, yogurt and grass fed beef , Farm Pick Up times are Friday afternoon from 2pm-5pm and Saturday mornings from 8am-11am. Please contact us if you need to arrange to pick your vegetables up outside of these times.